America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home  the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate
the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments
that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour,
mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to
fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I
use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century,
America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders.
After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of
repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire.

We have seen our vulnerability - and we have seen its deepest
source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment
and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder -
violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the
most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one
force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and
expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent
and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The
survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of
liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the
expansion of freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one.
From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and
woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value,
because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across
the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government,
because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a
slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation.
It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent
requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the
growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and
culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend
ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by
its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by
the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of
a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect
customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not
impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead
is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and
make their own way.

The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of
generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it.
America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the
oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it
confidently in freedom's cause.

My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people
against further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely
chosen to test America's resolve, and have found it firm.

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and
every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always
wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend
that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome
humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at
the mercy of bullies.

We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that
success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own
people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet
rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they
are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In
the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no
human rights without human liberty.

Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty - though
this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of
freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people,
should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the
call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept
the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the
possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love
it.

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United
States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors.
When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know:
America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free
country.

The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as
Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not
for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain
it."

The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to
know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this
journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.

And all the allies of the United States can know: we honor your
friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help.
Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies.
The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude
to our enemies' defeat.

Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens:

From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing
America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has
accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be
dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great
liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved
their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it.
By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of
men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its
progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the
darkest corners of our world.

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause - in
the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy ... the idealistic work of
helping raise up free governments ... the dangerous and necessary work
of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country
in deaths that honored their whole lives - and we will always honor
their names and their sacrifice.

All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first
time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your
eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our
soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and
courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your
wants, larger than yourself - and in your days you will add not just to
the wealth of our country, but to its character.

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential
work at home - the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world
moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and
promise of liberty.

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and
security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of
subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated
the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of
Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great
institutions to serve the needs of our time. To give every American a
stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the
highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We
will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings
and health insurance - preparing our people for the challenges of life
in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own
destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want
and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on
private character - on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the
rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the
end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built
in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in
our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the
words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans
move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and
true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same
yesterday, today, and forever.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled
by service, and mercy, and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does
not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and
women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love.
Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must
always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country
must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the
message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of
dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From
the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed
and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our
character bring credit to that cause?

These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of
every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound
to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which
must be healed to move forward in great purposes - and I will strive in
good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America.
We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under
attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart.
And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for
good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust
encounter justice, and the captives are set free.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of
freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it
is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a
chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence
because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark
places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new
order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union
based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the
banner "Freedom Now" - they were acting on an ancient hope that is
meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but
history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of
Liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and
the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang
as if it meant something." In our time it means something still.
America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the
world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength -
tested, but not weary - we are ready for the greatest achievements in
the history of freedom.

May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of
America.